Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds First Look

Capcom and Marvel finally get around to the sequel everyone has wanted for a decade.

There's not much to say at the start of a story about what's arguably the most anticipated sequel from Capcom in a decade besides "it's about damn time." After roughly 10 years of waiting, fans aching for a sequel to Marvel vs. Capcom 2--the Japanese company's epic fighter mash-up--are finally getting their wish next year. At Capcom's recent press event, we spied the game's first trailer and were given a smattering of information about what to expect from the upcoming PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 game, dubbed Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds.

The presentation was hosted by producer Ryota Niitsuma and special advisor to the project Seth Killian, better known for his involvement in that other long-anticipated Capcom fighting sequel. The presentation's opening offered a primer on the roots of the fighting genre and placed Capcom at the heart of it, with the various titles in the versus series, including X-Men vs. Street Fighter, Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, and the two previous entries in the Marvel vs. Capcom series. The history lesson skipped ahead, past Capcom's lengthy sabbatical from the fighting genre, and picked up again in 2009 to offer notable props on the successful Street Fighter revival with Street Fighter IV. SFIV's success and Marvel vs. Capcom 2's impressive performance on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade ultimately set the stage for Marvel vs. Capcom 3, which brings us to the third entry in the series.

The game is set to hit the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 next spring and is being developed by what Killian dubs an all-star team of key staff who have worked on the previous versus games. The title is making use of the latest iteration of Capcom's proprietary MT Framework game engine, which has powered the original Dead Rising, Resident Evil 5, and the two entries in the Lost Planet series. The robust engine was touted as a good fit for the specific needs of the upcoming game. Given the title's comic angle, much attention is being put into creating a living comic book complete with little touches (such as a robust set of graphical shaders) to capture Marvel's style during combat, as well as unique in-game events that were mentioned fairly cryptically. The goal is to create something rich in fan service for comic and fighting fans alike.

While we weren't able to see the proper game running, the teaser trailer showed that Capcom is certainly on the right track. The minute-long trailer showcased the game's art style, teased the environment, and showed off some familiar faces mixing it up with one new one. While the trailer featured the disclaimer that the footage being shown was a work in progress, what was on display hit the right notes.

The presentation then shifted to examining the six characters seen in the teaser trailer, all of whom have had a modern-day 3D makeover. Wolverine looks sharp and in line with what looks to be his Astonishing X-Men outfit. Ryu, no stranger to a 3D model, features much more dramatic shading than we've seen in his previous appearances. Iron Man is shown rocking what looks to be the Extremis armor, while Morrigan sticks with her classic "barely there" outfit that has seen a visual upgrade since her appearance in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. Finally, the Hulk was suitably menacing and featured a bit of a retro look that's a far cry from his most recent Planet Hulk appearances. Hulk's playmate in the trailer was none other than the gun-sporting Chris Redfield, who was clearly having some issues taking on the green machine with his standard gun and knife combo.

Once the main presentation ended, Niitsuma, Killian, and Chris Baker from Marvel were on hand for a brief QA session that touched on some interesting information. In terms of music, the intent is to feature a sizable amount for the game, possibly going as high as 100 tracks that will include remixes of some of the classics and unique tunes for all the characters (thus bumping up the chances of hearing an update of "Take You for a Ride" pretty high). The next obvious question revolved around the game's roster of fighters. Specifics were not disclosed, although Niitsuma did say the team is aiming for more than 30 but that it would depend on time.

The next obvious point of discussion focused on the possibility of new roster members being added through downloadable content. While exact details on DLC are still being figured out, the intent is to have something unique. In terms of the specifics around how the characters are given their unique looks, the process begins with Capcom's interpretation of a hero that Marvel collaborates on to ensure the hero is true to its most current incarnation in the books.

The subject of control is also, understandably, a source of curiosity. At the moment the game's control scheme is still in flux, and the team is experimenting. This year's Tatsunoko vs. Capcom offered a good test bed for some of the thinking going into MVC3. The ultimate goal is to create a system that's easy for returning fans to pick and master but not totally intimidating to newcomers.

Overall, we have to say we're pleased. While there are plenty of reasons to be skeptical (yes, it's an early look, and yes, we didn't actually see the thing in motion, and yes, it's not due out until spring of 2011), we're opting not to be right now. Tatsunoko vs. Capcom was essentially a foray into this kind of game already and hit a lot of the beats we'd want out of MVC3. If, as we expect, many of the ideas from that game serve as a springboard for the mechanics in MVC3, then things should go well. Look for more on the game in the weeks and months to come.

@ Nexus_OMEGA and metalstorn the game is still a work in progress they still got a year to fix it. I doubt the game developers are too worried about the graphics right now they are probably focusing on making the characters and figuring out what they want to do with the game. They will probably fix the graphics later on.

what I hated about MvC2 was how the 6 strength buttons that was the proven staple of SF2-style games for so long, was reduced to 4 buttons, limiting the precision aspect of the gameplay and making it more akin to a button masher. And now, if wiki sources are anything to go by, it seems they're reducing it further by going for a 3 button system. Talk about a step in the wrong direction.

i just messed myself. i have played mvc2 on the dreamcast , ps2, and the ps3. mvc3 better not disappoint. this should be the game everyone should envy. and further more they need lots of characters to play with. mega man was my fav before.

hope they dont mess with the overall feel and gameplay of this one, the other 2 in the series were almost perfect fighting games other then some character balance issues. MVC2 was by far my favorite game of all time hope they keep the franchise true and great!!!!!!

Omega_Logic @
That's not a bad idea at all, but I wouldn't mind having Ryu, Akuma and Ken.
Or Wolwerine and Cyclops(classic team). But gotta agree with the part of adding 10 new characters to each marvel and capcom.

i enjoyed MvC2 a lot because they basically kept the roster from MvC1 and added like a million others, why couldn't they just do the same for MvC3? i feel they should take out similar characters, like in MvC2, there was no need for 2 wolverines, and ryu can resume the role of akuma and ken again.....then again i liked using ken on his own, i think they should keep the same roster as MvC2, and add like 10 from marvel and 10 from capcom

OMG!!!! Everysingle character including in the SNK family should be in this game!!!! I really hope capcom dont mess this up by leaving out very popular charcters like Demtri from Darkstrakers or Zero from Megaman. Not to mention I hope they have an option to add you own music track like Burnout Paradise did. The visuals look really good, but lets not hold back on the character roster. I'm sure we have the technology now to add everybody or download characters. Come on Capcom lets make it happen because we both know its goin to be another 10 years for MvC4 lol

it's 10 years in the making they should at least have 60 - 90 characters we've waited so long for this at least gives us a game with a good number of fighters. Hoping Gambit, Storm, Rouge and Venom makes the list.

@thesand212
60-90 should be just the beginning. release all the characters you can. I mean it's been 10 years, why let time get in the way of content now? Oh right, ever reasonably priced DLC....
I hope they add Silver Surfer to the line up for once. I doubt it though....

@cpinheiro2
Its the man who throws boulders vs the man who punches boulders.... Should be an interesting fight indeed >.>
I want Dante and Trish from (DMC), Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield (RE2) and X-23, Deadpool, Black Panther, and Blade for this one. XD